DA: ‘Largest takedown’ of illegal dumping

Commercial and residential property owners believed they were purchasing “clean fill” for their yards and gardens.

What they got instead was solid waste: pieces of wood, asphalt, concrete, large boulders, and glass, authorities said. Sometimes the material smelled of diesel fuel, but it was delivered anyway. And some of that debris later tested as hazardous waste.

“What we’re dealing with here is an epidemic of illegal dumping in Suffolk County,” Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said in a statement.

“It’s gone on far too long, and our message is very clear: we will not tolerate this criminal conduct in our county,” he added. “We will do whatever it takes to uncover illegal dumping.”

On Monday, the DA’s office, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Police Department announced a 130-count indictment, charging 30 individuals and nine corporations with an alleged scheme to illegally dump solid waste at 24 Long Island locations.

Back in February, authorities began an investigation through electronic surveillance, including court-authorized eavesdropping, and physical surveillance.

They say Anthony Grazio of Smithtown served as a “dirt broker,” arranging for sites where trucking companies could illegally dump the solid waste. The scheme involved advertising clean fill for landscaping projects on Craigslist and then soliciting homeowners for to line up locations to dump the contaminated material.

The illegally dumped debris came from Long Island and New York City-based recycling and transfer stations, authorities said.

But Grazio’s attorney denied the charges and attorneys for some of the defendants said their clients thought they were handling clean fill, according to published reports.

Yet Sini maintained the alleged scheme was deliberate.

“The bigger the property, the better for the defendants, as this scam was all about making money,” Sini said. “When an ideal property was found, Grazio could often be heard directing his co-conspirators to ‘hit it hard.’”

Sini added that “they did this to save on operating costs, and they did it at the expense of the health of our residents.”

DEC testing found that six of the locations contained acutely hazardous substances and 17 of the locations contained hazardous substances under New York State Environmental Conservation Law. The acutely hazardous substances included aldrin, dieldrin and heptachlor, which are all pesticides. The hazardous substances included arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc and mercury, which are all metals.

The top count of the indictment is second-degree criminal mischief, carrying a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison.